War of the Reunions

Bombardment of Genoa

Date	26 October 1683 – 15 August 1684
Location	Spanish Netherlands, Catalonia, Genoa
Result	French victory Truce of Ratisbon

Belligerents

France
Dutch militia

Commanders and leaders

Louis XIV

Charles II

The War of the Reunions (1683–84) was a short conflict between France and Spain and its allies. It was fueled by the long-running desire of Louis XIV to conquer new lands, many of them comprising part of the Spanish Netherlands, along France's northern and eastern borders. The war was, in some sense, a continuation of the territorial and dynastic aims of Louis XIV as manifested in the War of Devolution and the Franco–Dutch War.

The treaties ending the War of Devolution (the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle [1668]) and the Franco–Dutch War (the Treaty of Nijmegen [1678]), as well as the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 (which ended the Thirty Years War), ceded a number of towns to France. By tradition, when a town changed hands, so did the surrounding rural areas, which provided it with food and other such supplies. Often, the borders of these dependent regions were ill-defined. Thus, Louis and his court, from 1670, introduced several Chambers of Reunion to investigate whether France had been granted all the territory that it had been owed. The Chambers of Reunion, loyal to the king, ruled, after a review of conflicting medieval documents, that a number of outlying areas should be awarded to France. They generally consisted of small towns and villages, and for the most part, Louis's annexations went unopposed.

Most territory seized came from the Spanish Netherlands and the western parts of the Holy Roman Empire, especially Alsace. Two of these territories seized by Louis as part of the Reunions were Strasbourg and Luxembourg. Officially, Strasbourg was intended to remain a neutral and independent city. However, that left large rural lands under Louis's control that were unprotected by major garrison towns, as Louis' advisors believed that as long as Strasbourg remained independent, Alsace would never be secure from attack. Indeed, the bridge over the Rhine at Strasbourg had been used repeatedly by the Imperial (Holy Roman Empire) forces.

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Wikipedia